Chapter 34: Finally, Shiganshina

"Morning"

An unintelligible sound came back as a reply.

It's not like the girl had trouble waking up, she was perfectly fine even if she didn't sleep for a day or two in fact, but by now it became more like a conditioned reflex to mumble instead of talking properly after just waking up if there wasn't an emergency.

But Klemens would have none of that and chopped her on the head.

"Ow, why did you do that?!" said the enraged young woman.

He didn't reply and just chuckled at her misery, after which he said with a small smile still on his face "Eat some jerky and let's go, we're about an hour away from shiganshina if we go fast, we need to act in maximum stealth in the eventuality that those guys are waiting for us"

"Aye boss, whatever you say boss" mocked the girl, since when does he instruct her on how to act?

She would do as he said, but because it was the best course of action, not because he said so!

The two proceeded to pack up their things and left the village they spent the first ten years of their life in without looking back, it would have hurt too much otherwise.

The only thing Klemens touched in his old house was the door to enter, but in Liesl's the old diary was now gone.

"From this point onward we should refrain from killing titans in case we cause a commotion, engage only if they pursue us, be ready with the blades in the best condition" reminded the girl.

Once again in their mission mode, the two were running through the forest, it was the best way to proceed unnoticed by humans and titans alike, and if they were indeed found by either they would have the highest chances of winning with all the footholds.

If the enemy was a normal titan the normal slaughtering tactic would be sufficient, small ones could be killed with just parkour on the trees to not waste gas and the big ones would be too hindered by the trees to give chase.

The titan shifter were a different matter altogether, neither had actually faced the armored so they had no idea how hard it's armor really was or if there were points where it thinned that could be used to injure it.

The colossal titan was another challenge, to this point neither knew if it was more than just a big thing that could be killed easily or if there was more to it.

According to what Eren said about the time he faced it at Trost it seems that it can emit powerful jets of high temperature vapor from its body as a shield, but if it was continuous or if there was a recharge time was unknown.

Titan form aside, if the enemy came in human form it would be a death sentence for them.

"What if they hesitate to attack and try to dialogue?" asked the green eyed young man.

"Kill them at the first opening, taking out Bertholdt would be our top priority, he's far too dangerous to be left alive, if we do end him we need to also take the body with us" replied the girl, the reason they had to take the body away was obvious so it was left unsaid, burning it would be the best chance they had to completely get rid of every trace of the colossal from the face of the Earth.

Even if they had the opportunity, which they didn't as carrying a body for so long would be a waste of efforts, to take it back and give it to the army they still wouldn't do it.

Such a thing is far too dangerous to leave even a single chance of it eventually founding a new host, they saw what it did in Trost and Annie told them a bit about its destructive ability, something like that shouldn't be left to roam the world, not even if it was an ally.

"You sure talk big, but I don't remember you ever killing anyone, are you sure that you're up for the task of killing an ex comrade?" it came out sounding mocking, but behind Klemens' words there was genuine concern for his companion.

Talking was easy, but putting that talk to the test was difficult, incredibly difficult.

Liesl remained in silence and Klemens gave her all the time she needed to sort her mindset, five whole minutes later she resumed talking, the determination in her eyes burning more than ever.

"It's meaningless to think about how we'll feel later, we need to kill them if the chance presents itself, they are the reason our parents died, the reason so many people, fathers, mothers, children and entire families were mercilessly killed by those mindless monsters and eaten alive.

Every second they live is a second that they could be using to kills countless others, the curse of the titans is the reason that we are confined inside the walls, the reason we are trapped and the reason that the rest of the world fears us, the reason we are just birds in a cage"

The more she talked the more the flame in her eyes shined, not only with determination, but with hatred too.

The young man was shocked at the hatred that filled his friends tone, this had never happened, they both knew that they were the cause for their parents deaths and all those things from the very beginning, why did such hatred come out only now?

She even protected Annie, an integral part in the reason their families died, if she felt like this then why did she spare her to the point of still calling the girl a friend?

Maybe, it wasn't there from the beginning, maybe readying her mother's diary had changed something inside the girl.

But Klemens didn't know, but he wanted to know, so he asked.

Beating around the bush wasn't useful in his opinion.

"What about Annie? She is one of them too, and what about Eren?" he should have said about Ymir too probably, too bad that he had forgotten about her, again.

"I don't know, they are not that dangerous, we have killed Eren's titan so many times while training him, maybe we can just keep them safe in hiding for a bit? She did say that they live for thirteen years after getting the titan, we could wait a few years for them to die naturally, then burn them too, after that no more titans"

"You do realize that our source of info is our own enemy right? What if she's hiding some part of the full truth? I know she can't lie in front of you, but hiding things isn't that difficult"

"... I trust her" she replied, her voice coming out almost as a whisper.

At that Klemens shut up, anything more and this would turn into a fight, one he didn't want not only during a mission, but also ever.

"I guess you're right, I trust you so if you say that, I'll trust her too"

"Thanks, Kle, without you I would have probably given up long ago"

"Are you stupid? I don't know anybody more stubborn than you, I you were able to give up then I can fly"

"You remember that day, six years ago?"

He looked at her as if she was stupid, something he was always more sure of, how could he ever forget that day?

"I froze that day, I froze up in front of two mere small titans after they killed our families, I was scared, if not for you I would have followed right after our parents.

I always talked big, about killing them all and freeing humanity, but I froze from fear against two weaklings"

Klemens had absolutely no idea how he should reply, or if he should at all, but he figured that simply lending her an ear would not be the wrong choice.

His usually proud, arrogant even, friend was currently displaying something that she rarely did, her vulnerable side and he knew that if he said anything wrong then a big problem might arise.

"I guess I never even thanked you for that" she stopped running, the boy stopping two seconds after, but already a few meters ahead of her.

She then walked right up to him and hugged him

"Thank you kle, for always being by my side for all these years, I know I can be an insufferable bitch sometimes" she added the last bit with a chuckle.

Klemens froze up and merely hugged back, eventually calming down and answering "We're family Lie, us against everything, remember?"

"Yeah" replied the girl with a radiant smile, one with more happiness than he had seen in a very long time.

'It seems that readying that diary really did something to her mind, I hope it's something good' thought the young man to himself with worry for his companion.

"Now let's stop wasting time, we're almost there, look, we can see the wall in the distance, we need to be even more careful now" said the girl with renewed focus.

That heartfelt conversation broke both of them from their focus, but they were immediately able to go back to mission mode, as they called it.

Mission mode was a mindset, a mindset in which both suppressed their emotions as much as possible in favor of a logical and faster thought process.

Emotions could fuck up things very quickly, rage and the hatred that Liesl displayed earlier being some of the most dangerous ones.

Anger could push them to make a choice that could fuck up the entire mission, for example attacking the target without a good chance of striking it down.

Fear was also a prominent one, but it wasn't as impactful on them, as they aged and grew stronger, being the best among everyone constantly, they developed a sense of pride that stopped them from proving fear of mere titans, no matter how big or fast.

"Titan at three o'clock, small one, around four meters, best to evade it, turn to eleven o'clock"

"Aye" replied Liesl.

Finally, after around fifty minutes or running they found themselves in front of the place where everything began.

Where humanity's worst day began, where thousands of people were eaten alive and where the two of them found themselves over six years ago.

That day titans kept pouring out of the gate, but now not a single one could be seen.

"Last time it took us different hours, I guess we really got faster" said the young man with a neutral expression on his face.

"It also took us over ten days to reach the inner wall, this time it was only three while also killing every titan we came across, our kill count is probably above everyone in the history of the Scouts"

"How did our ancestor even conquer the world in the first place? Did they have, like, thousands of titans every time they fought? Those things are too easy to kill"

"That's where you're wrong Kle, it's not them that is weak, we are too strong, I can predict how they'll move before they even do so, and I once saw you slip and fall before an abnormal one jumped while trying to eat you"

"I-I did not!" tried to defend the boy, failing miserably.

"After slipping you tried to pull off a cool pose to make the others think that it was all planned, but I know you better then that" replied the girl with a smug smile on her face.

The young man tried to retort, but she interrupted before he could even begin "Now shut up, from now on maximum silence and let's communicate with signs, we are in enemy territory and this is only recon, erasing the threat is secondary"

He didn't like to admit it, he never did, but she was right.

"You ready?" she asked.

He just made an affirmative gesture accompanied by a nod, clearly already following the instructions she had given.

'Let's go then' she gestured with a small smile on her face.